Of Love and Shadows

Irene (Jennifer Connelly) is a daughter of privilege in 1970's Chile. It is a time of government repression and citizens of Chile are turning up missing, never to be found. Working as a magazine writer, Irene meets photographer Francisco (Antonio Banderas). Francisco is a passionate young man with a dangerous secret: he is working for an underground movement investigating the government's actions. Although Irene is engaged to a man in the military, she falls in love with Francisco and joins him in his underground activities. Will they be able to expose the misdeeds of the government and remain alive?

This movie is based on a novel by Chilean-born author Isabel Allende. Her political views are to the left; yet, this film is not totally biased. Real events occured under Chilean leader Pinochet, who eventually was deposed. This movie, therefore, offers a glimpse into the horrific tortures and deaths at the hands of the Chilean government in the seventies. Not as exciting as it could be, the film nevertheless provides enough drama and pathos to touch the hearts of its viewers. Connelly and Banderas give fine performances that resonate. Recommended for fans of the two leads as well as those who admire films with a political agenda.

This movie is not only bad but also downright annoying. Acting is weak and the characters are not convincing. You don't need to have lived in a Latin American country under dictatorship to notice the caricatural overplaying of roles. And it's not because the story is so obviously biased towards the leftist cause in Latin America (totally expected, being based on a book by Isabel Allende): Costa-Gavras was able to make good movies in spite of ideology. The funniest thing however is that the movie in reality, and unintentionally, ends up showing a face of Latin-American politics that is extremely depressing: the left and the right are both so empty-headed that not only you're incapable of feeling any sympathy for them, but even worse, it makes you believe that now you finally understood why Latin-American countries have so much trouble governing themselves. It's a really sad movie.

This is very good film, accurate depiction of historical events of this South American country. A must see. Writer Isabel Allende has done a fantastic recount of many facts and events of the Dictatorship that plagued this country. Jennifer's part is played in a very natural, and sexy portrait, of the fresh, sexy, and Latin American spirit of people, with ideals, and lust for life and freedom. Antonio Banderas, still not a superstar, plays the Dr, and new photographer, with convictions. He does a great job on this film, and is nice to see a still not Hollywood viced acting, and superstar status actor, doing a pretty good job. The director of photography captures the spirit of a time and era, where the air was thick, and people were afraid. The "ejercito" was omnipresent at every moment, in and out of people's life's. A must see film, for lovers of foreign films, and to followers of Latin American History.

But not much else. As a story, it is something of a docudrama -- part history and part love story. The historical part must be taken for granted, as the author maintains high credentials as a witness. The love story is just so-so, however -- predictable and depending for its attractiveness on a good deal of gratuitous nudity. We see here rather more of Antonio Banderas than is probably necessary. Ditto the Chilean army officer.

The main weakness of the film is that it is not presented in Spanish with English subtitles. To have Spanish-speaking actors mouthing English is extremely distracting, and to my mind unforgivable in view of the locale and the facts of its production. Jennifer could surely have been taught to fake a little Español with some artful dubbing later on.

Still, one has to appreciate the scenery and the score, played apparently by a full symphony orchestra somewhere in Bratislava or the like. As a travelogue it succeeds admirably, even if it is on the sunrise side of the Andes and not the other way round.

The previous comment sounded to me like they weren't criticizing the movie. Sounded more like they were bashing the Country and the author...I found it was a good movie. I've seen better, but it's not at the bottom of my list, and neither is The House Of The Spirits. Of Love and Shadows is a book that explains in the background what was going on politically in Chile and it was a way to kind of get it out in the open - I don't know...create an awareness. I admit, it must be difficult to translate an amazing novel into a movie and have it come out the same. I find that Isabel Allende's books are absolutely fabulous!! She is a great story teller. And for this particular one, I also think you may need to have a bit more knowledge of what had happened in Chile to have a better understanding of what the story is about. The Movie - I enjoyed it...it deserves to be seen at least once, but...maybe..to get a better sense of what it's all about, it's best to read the book first! Maybe if this film was shot in Chile it would have been different using Chilean Actors that do an amazing job anyway. The movie may have been better. But I am glad that Antonio Banderas and Jennifer Connelly decided to be a part of this movie. Both are great actors that tried to give the movie feeling...